Half-Wits Holiday
Half-Wits Holiday is the 97th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959. Cast *Moe Howard *Larry Fine *Curly Howard *Vernon Dent *Barbara Slater *Theodore Lorch *Symona Boniface *Helen Dickson *Mary Forbes *Johnny Kascier *Judy Malcolm *Emil Sitka *Al Thompson *Victor Travis Plot In the second Stooge adaptation of Pygmalion, the trio are repairmen who make a in the presence of two psychologists, Professors Quackenbush and Sedletz. Quackenbush makes a bet with Sedletz that he can turn the boys into gentlemen through environment. Training is slow and painful for the professor, who pull his hair out in disgust. The Stooges take the opportunity to flirt with the professor's daughter, Lulu, while learning table etiquette. Finally, the winner of the wager will be decided by the boys' behavior at a fancy society party. The party, naturally, goes awry. Curly greets guest Mrs. Smythe-Smythe by kissing her hand, and biting off the diamond in her ring. Realizing this, Moe and Larry take Curly to a secluded area to lecture him, only to find that the kleptomaniac Stooge has swiped a load of silverware as well. Curly then grabs a pie from a pastry table, and tries to eat it whole. Moe sees this, swipes the pie, and pushes Curly out of the way. Seeing the approaching Mrs. Smythe-Smythe, Moe tosses the pie straight up, resulting in it sticking to the ceiling. Noticing his nervousness and frequent upward glances, she sympathetically comments, "Young man, what's wrong? You act as though the Sword of Damocles is hanging over your head." Moe tells Mrs. Smythe-Smythe "Lady, you must be psychic!" and leaves. Bewildered, Mrs. Smythe-Smythe says, "I wonder what's wrong with that young man?" and looks up to see what had him so concerned. At that moment the pie comes crashing down in the society matron's face. This sparks off a massive pie melee that takes no prisoners. Notes *This was Curly's final film as a Stooge, due to a stroke and retirement. He was at a hospital. Although, he made a cameo appearance in Hold That Lion! with Moe, Larry, and Shemp. *The pie fight footage would be recycled in Pest Man Wins, Scheming Schemers, Pies and Guys and the 1960 compilation film ''Stop! Look! and Laugh''. *Curly was actually supposed to be featured prominently in the pie-fight scene, but after Moe found him with his head slumped on his shoulder, it was apparent the comedian was in no shape to perform. Moe quietly alerted director Jules White of Curly's unfortunate situation, leading White to quickly rework the scene to be divided between Moe and Larry. Reaction shots from the supporting cast were spliced in more frequently to hide Curly's absence. *Ironically, despite suffering the stroke during the short and leaving the act afterwards, ''Half-Wits Holiday ''is often considered one of Curly's best performances among his last batch of shorts. The short actually features a fairly long comedy bit with him and Moe where they are slurping their soup. Video Category:1947 Category:Short Subjects Category:Columbia Pictures Category:Moe Howard/Actor Category:Larry Fine/Actor Category:Curly Howard/Actor Category:Vernon Dent/Actor Category:Symona Boniface/Actress Category:Emil Sitka/Actor Category:Jules White/Producer Category:Jules White/Director Category:Zion Myers/Writer